Hertfordshire County Councillor and MI supporter Josh Lovell has submitted the following motion to his Constituency Labour Party (Stevenage). Please use or adapt to put to your Labour Party or union branch. To let us know or for help, email info@momentuminternationalists.org
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Services devastated, local democracy gutted. Time to fight back
Notes that: 1. After a decade of cuts, increased demand, and reduced revenue during the pandemic, local authorities face disaster. 2. Croydon is now the second council, after Northamptonshire, to invoke Section 114, indicating it will provide only statutory services. 3. Rishi Sunak has only given councils an extra £3bn – over £5bn less than the (Tory-led) Local Government Association called for as necessary to prevent further cuts, and a billion less than needed to avoid meltdown.
Believes that: 1. The government is gutting public services, driving down working-class living standards, decimating council housing and destroying meaningful local democracy. 2. Labour should start an aggressive campaign to halt and reverse this assault. 3. The costs of Covid-19 should be met by making the rich and corporations pay – not workers and communities.
Resolves to: 1. Call on the whole party and the leadership to vocally and actively campaign – using our national platform, and involving members, supporters and trade unionists in mass activity – for: a. increased central funding for councils to prevent further cuts and job losses, immediately pushing the government for the additional £5bn the LGA has called for b. a £10bn annual grant to fund the building of 100,000 council homes a year c. a clear timetable to reverse all cuts since 2010, moving towards budgets meeting social needs. 2. Organise a meeting to discuss local campaigning to stop cuts and win restored funding. Invite a speaker from the trade union campaign against cuts in Croydon. Invite our Labour councillors to take part and consider/discuss how they can help. 3. Call on councillors to raise these demands in the council, and campaign to win them. 4. Circulate this motion widely, and make links with campaigners in other areas.
“This CLP expresses no confidence in Keir Starmer as leader and David Evans as general secretary”.
Where local Labour Parties have meetings in December and early January, this looks like the best format for motions.
Mostly local Labour Parties have deliberately avoided going against the rule issued by Jennie Formby as general secretary in March 2019 barring us from debating motions on disciplinary cases. In mid-November, anyway, local Labour Parties were told we could however debate motions on restoring the whip; but now those too are banned.
Those bans are wrong. One way of fighting them would be to have such a big wave of CLPs passing motions which break those bans that they become unworkable. Young Labour has tweeted about restoring the whip, been instructed to take down the tweet, and refused without incurring disciplinary action so far.
So far, however, the Labour leadership has responded by suspending selectively, a few rather than the “thousands and thousands” it has threatened. And, since many Labour Parties do not meet in December, going for a wave of motions openly defying the ban looks likely just to get left-wingers picked off, rather than to overwhelm the ban.
“No confidence” motions express the message as sharply or more so, and it will be very difficult to ban them.
The “no confidence” motions must be coupled with other motions recognising the shameful verdict of the EHRC inquiry and calling for a political offensive against antisemitism in the Labour Party. We want a political offensive against antisemitism; but we want it to be a political drive, with disciplinary measures secondary and for clear-cut cases. The current suspension-mania sends no clear political message other than a denial of democracy.
A Tory Brexit deal will probably come before Parliament in some way (see bit.ly/brx-d for the possibilities) in the next two or three weeks.
If a deal comes, it is certain to be as bad as previous Tory Brexit formulas if not worse. It is certain not to meet Labour’s six tests from 2018, on the basis of which Labour has voted against previous Tory Brexit formulas.
So, as Michael Chessum of Another Europe Is Possible has explained, Labour should certainly not vote for the deal. The straightforward response is to vote against. An argument can be made for abstaining, so as to separate from Tory right-wingers who may vote against because they see the deal as not “hard” enough Brexit, or even run the (small) risk of triggering “no deal”; but no case for voting for.
Yet according to the Guardian, the Financial Times, etc., Keir Starmer, together with Lisa Nandy, Nick Thomas-Symonds, Jon Ashworth, and others, are set on a three-line whip for Labour to vote for the deal. The motive? To placate or conciliate pro-Brexit Labour sympathisers who voted Tory or abstained in December 2019.
The SNP has as big a percentage of habitual supporters who are pro-Brexit as Labour. They still vote SNP. Why? Because the SNP has convinced pretty much all of them that other issues on which those supporters agree with the SNP are more important (and some of them that Brexit is bad after all).
Labour must do the same, with different “more important” issues of course. The idea of voting for the final botched Brexit deal after voting against all the Brexit formulas before it takes those pro-Brexit Labour sympathisers for fools, and will convince them only that Labour doesn’t know what it’s doing.
The media report that other people in Starmer’s inner circle, Anneliese Dodds, Emily Thornberry, David Lammy, and even right-winger Bridget Phillipson, are pushing for Labour to abstain.
Through Labour Party meetings where they are held in December, and through direct lobbying of Labour MPs, activists should set up an outcry against voting for the deal.
Suggested motion for local labour parties
The CLP notes:____
1. On 28 November 2020, the /Guardian /reported that the Labour leadership is “minded to impose a three-line whip in support” of any Tory Brexit deal tabled before Christmas. 2. In March 2017, Keir Starmer (in his then position as shadow Brexit secretary) set out 6 tests as a condition of support for any final Brexit deal and promised that “Labour will not support a deal that fails to reflect core British values and the six tests I have set out.”
The CLP believes:____
1. Any deal put to Parliament before Christmas by the Tories will be an extremely “hard”, regressive, version of Brexit, paving the way for deregulation, and a race to the bottom for workers’ rights, human rights, environmental standards, food quality and consumer protections. 2. From what we already know, the Tory Brexit deal will not be in the interests of working people and will not meet Starmer’s 6 tests. 3. Labour should take no political responsibility for a hard Brexit deal delivered by the Tories, and its inevitable economic and social consequences and should vote against it in Parliament. ____ 4. Our movement must argue for lowering, not raising borders; for closer international links and solidarity; for high environmental standards; and for the defence and extension of free movement and migrants’ rights.
This CLP resolves:____
1. To write to the Leader of the Labour Party and local MP urging them to oppose the Tory Brexit deal in Parliament. 2. To publicise this motion through its social media and other channels.
Thousands of people have marched in cities across Poland in protests against a near-total ban on abortion. Poland already has some of the strictest abortion laws in the world.
There are fewer than 2,000 legal abortions a year in Poland, and the vast majority take place because of malformed foetuses, which would be illegal following the court ruling such abortions were unconstitutional. The new ruling restricts abortions to circumstances of rape, incest, or if there is a threat to the woman’s life.
Women’s groups estimate that as many as 200,000 procedures are performed illegally or abroad each year.
The demonstrations happened despite a government ban on public gatherings due to Covid-19. Poland’s Roman Catholic episcopate and the governing rightwing Law and Justice (PiS) party had been campaigning for further restrictions on reproductive freedoms. The court has been reformed by the PiS government and contains many right-wing judges loyal to the ruling party.
On Friday thousands of young protesters in Warsaw marched to the home of PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński, meeting violence from Poland’s riot police. Elsewhere in Poland protesters gathered in main squares, outside PiS premises, or near churches. Slogans such as “women’s hell” and “unlimited abortions” were daubed on church walls in Warsaw.
On Sunday 25 October protesters interrupted Mass at churches, dropping banners and staging occupations. Poland’s far-right came out to block women from protesting at some churches.
Polish socialist and Momentum NCG member, Ana Oppenheim said, “The protest was called very spontaneously, on Thursday night. When I arrived just after 5pm on Saturday, there was maybe a couple hundred people. By the time it got properly dark around 6.30, there were over a thousand of us.
“The protest was DIY, loud and angry — just like the actions happening across Poland where hundreds of thousands of people in cities and towns are demonstrating, blocking roads and interrupting church services. Pundits like to say the court ruling ‘divided Poland’, but in reality, the opposition to the ruling is overwhelming and crosses political, social, generational and geographic divides.
“I’ve been particularly happy to see the alliances of feminists and trade unionists, from farmers to miners, that are currently emerging — something we haven’t seen a lot of in Poland in recent decades. Knowing that my friends are among those marching and organising back home makes me proud, and I know they’re really happy to see that we’re standing in solidarity with them in the UK, across Europe and beyond”.
We must continue to stand in solidarity against the Polish right’s attacks on reproductive freedoms. It is part of a global attack on abortion rights.
On 22 October the Trump administration signed an international anti-abortion pledge. The “Geneva Consensus Declaration” calls on states to promote “women’s rights and health” — without access to abortion. The “core supporters” of the declaration are Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia and Uganda, and the 27 other signatories include Belarus, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Sudan, South Sudan, Libya.
After rigged elections, followed by extreme violence by security forces against peaceful protesters, Siarhei Charkasau and his co-workers joined a strike at JSC Belaruskali potash fertilizer producer to peacefully demand freedom, democracy and respect. Siarhei is an employee of Belaruskali and vice chair of the Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BITU), an affiliate of IndustriALL Global Union. Over the last two months Siarhei has been convicted three times for participation in an unauthorized public event in Soligorsk, where miners of Belaruskali had declared a strike to protest against the rigged elections. Since then, dozens of activists and strike committee members at Belaruskali have been prosecuted, threatened, fined and deprived of benefits at work for their activities. Siarhei and three of his comrades, BITU members Pavel Puchenia, Yury Korzun and Anatol Bokun are in prison now. One sentence has followed the other while they were still serving their sentence.
Support the BITU and IndustriALL demand to end the persecution of employees of Belaruskali for their participation in the strike and those who continue to “work to rule” at Belaruskali. Demand an immediate release of the BITU leader Siarhei Charkasau and union activists Pavel Puchenia, Yury Korzun and Anatol Bokun, who is a co-chairperson of the strike committee.
Pass this motion in your local Labour party and support the health workers fight for 15%.
This BLP/CLP notes:
1.The incredibly hard work undertaken by workers in the health and care sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. The lack of a real-terms pay rise for workers in the health and care sector during a decade of Tory austerity which has led to pay being eroded by nearly 20% since 2010 in some cases.
3. The staff shortages and alarming rate of staff turnover in healthcare with, for example, more than one third of nurses considering leaving the profession in the next 12 months.
4. The emergence of the grassroots campaign NHS Workers Say No to Public Sector Pay Inequality calling for a 15% pay rise across the board for all NHS workers on Agenda for Change contracts, and for outsourced services in the NHS to be brought back in house.
5. The support given to the 15% demand from Labour-affiliated unions GMB and Unite.
This BLP/CLP believes:
A well-funded, well-staffed, public health system, free at the point of use, is a cornerstone of a civilised society.
2. Staffing issues in the health and care sector will not be addressed without granting a significant pay rise and ending the two-tier workforce created by outsourcing.
3. Resolving these staffing issues is key to ensuring good patient care.
4. Many workers in the care sector endure shockingly low wages and should be covered by sectoral collective bargaining.
5. Our health workers deserve a 15% pay rise.
6. It is time for the care sector to be taken into public ownership.
This BLP/CLP resolves:
To publicly support the demands of the NHS Workers Say No to Public Sector Pay Inequality campaign and make links with the campaign locally.
2. To write expressing our support for the campaign to the Party’s National Executive Committee and the Leader’s Office in the hope that the national Party will support the campaign.
3. To make a policy submission to the Party’s National Policy Forum under ‘The health and social care system after to coronavirus’ on the principles laid out in this motion.
Just over a year ago, in 2019, there were 239 simultaneous strikes throughout the UK, as 100,000 people turned out for the Global Strike for the Climate. On Friday, September 25th, many students took to the streets again, reminding us that this crisis has not gone away, and calling for the labour movement to join them. We want Young Labour to respond to this generational issue, and mobilise young people to join these demonstrations.
The world is still on fire. 2020 has been defined by two devastating wildfires in particular: California’s orange skies and ten mile high plumes of smoke caused by a reckless Gender Reveal Party and Australia’s eleven million hectares of destroyed forests. Beyond these events, other equally horrific frontlines have emerged with less media coverage: the aftermath of 2019’s Cyclone Idai, disasters in East Africa, the ‘dry corridor’ of Central America, and the rising of temperatures set to make some areas of the Global South uninhabitable by 2050, the year when the UK has pledged to finally become ‘net zero’.
At home, the largest climate disaster on the horizon isn’t fire, but floods. The aftermath of March’s downpours still leaves many communities in uncertainty. Here, like the rest of the world, the worst impacts are felt by the most disadvantaged, exacerbating historical inequalities. Flooding will affect austerity-hit coastal communities the greatest whilst air pollution has a disproportionate effect on BAME communities. There are countless more examples. We need to stop seeing these crises as separate, and start tackling them as one and the same.
Photos: Climate Central. Shows projected flooding in the UK by 2050 on a ‘business as usual’ pathway + moderate flood using Kopp et als 2014 projections Available: https://coastal.climatecentral.org
One year ago, the TUC congress voted to support a “five minute stoppage” in solidarity with the Global Climate Strike, creating a high point for youth – the labour movement in solidarity with the climate struggle. A few weeks later, the Labour Party conference passed the Green New Deal motion, but with pressure to omit an end to airport expansion, and the GMB’s abstention, cracks had begun to show.
Fast forward to a general election, the Labour leadership election, and a pandemic, and we now see Keir Starmer back tracking on the 2030 net zero target, and Unite attacking the government for failing to approve plans for new open cast coalmining. The conservative idea that we face a choice between “protecting good jobs” and taking action to tackle climate change is a serious distraction from an urgently needed ambition to organise for a worker-led Green New Deal.
Photo: Graeme Tweedy, Exeter Unison attending the Global Strike for Climate, 20th September 2019
Beyond “protecting” short term jobs in unsustainable industries, a confident labour movement should take a lead in fighting for improved conditions, and rapid decarbonisation, to protect the working class from further climate breakdown. Ecologically unsafe work should be rejected on grounds of the health and safety threat to all workers, and socially useful work or retraining should be demanded as a guarantee. From manufacturing electric buses for a vastly expanded, free public transport network, to filling the 100,000 shortage of staff in the NHS, or investing in the arts and culture, there is plenty of work to be done. But reorganising production and public services to benefit people and planet, at the cost of capital, cannot be won without a fight.
History demonstrates that where leadership is shown, union members consistently want to fight, and win both for their material conditions, and for the world that we live in. The Lucas Plan, Green Bans in Australia, the Vestas occupation on the Isle of Wight can all be the inspiration for a new wave of environmental class struggle.
Important industrial struggles are ongoing and need an injection of the ambition and positivity that we see from youth strikers. For example, the NHS 15% pay campaign may not be explicitly climate related, but a transfer of resources from high impact extraction and consumption, to low impact care work is crucial for any kind of Green New Deal, so paying staff in the healthcare properly would be a good start. The situation at British Airways is also worrying for employees and environmentalists alike, with bosses and union leaderships in dispute over redundancies and “fire and rehire”, but without any mention of the need to cut back aviation and provide green jobs for all current staff. We should back the British Airways workers, and those facing similar threats across fossil fuel industries. We need to strengthen the collective bargaining power of fossil fuel workers, encourage the labour movement to lead the way in rapidly decarbonising, and be clear that the costs of providing green jobs and retraining will fall on the wealthy.
Now, more urgently than ever, we need to take the radicalism of the youth strike movement into organised workers’ action. Young Labour groups should take a lead in supporting climate strikes and bringing in support from the wider labour movement. The message of workplace organising to effect a just decarbonisation must be spread through union branches and CLPs up and down the country. Rather than trying to downplay job losses for fossil fuel industries, we should engage and empower these workers to take control of their workplaces.
It is now one year on since the Labour Party’s 2019 national conference – arguably the most radical Labour Party event in decades. Delegates passed resolutions committing the party to 2030 decarbonisation as part of a worker-led just transition, to support the abolition of academies, and private schools, and – arguably in its biggest shift on immigration policy ever – to defend and extend free movement, ensure voting rights for all UK residents, abolish No Recourse to Public Funds, and to close all detention centres (to name but a few).
What made some of these so distinct was that they were almost entirely led by grassroots campaigns and explicitly to the left of promises made in the 2017 Labour Manifesto – already touted as the most left-wing set of Labour proposals since 1983. Although the Labour’s “Clause 5” meetings undemocratically binned almost all of these when writing its’ 2019 Manifesto just one month later, these remain the Labour Party’s official position on climate change, education, and immigration.
But as with all democratic gains – they must be continually fought for and defended. The 2019 general election defeat was crushing, and the leadership election of Keir Starmer – who campaigned to maintain the radicalism of these policies – has sharply diverted attention away from such activist gains, towards far more modest and “respectable” proposals (that is respectable in the eyes of the ruling class). Within just one year it feels like the energy and enthusiasm of rank-and-file Labour members – who won so emphatically in Brighton – has been drained away. We cannot let ourselves lose the socialist militancy needed to build and win such a program.
The organised left, despite being on the back foot, has an urgent job before this is all canned entirely; defend conference democracy. Be that within local CLPs, union and momentum branches, activists must start putting pressure on to stop any further retreats; and this applies at all levels of our movement. Momentum – with around 25,000 members, and by far the largest organisation on the Labour left – undertook its National Coordinating Group (NCG) elections earlier this year, ending on the 1st of July. Since then, there have been positive steps towards some of the pledges made by the victorious ‘Forward Momentum’ slate, but crucially on the level of policy, the organisation has been inadequately vocal.
On paper Forward Momentum supported “defending and building on the 2019 manifesto: a Green New Deal, […], repealing all anti-trade union laws, advancing migrants’ rights, international solidarity, and more”. However in reality, Momentum’s main thrust has been towards winning a left-NEC and anti-evictions campaigning – both important and necessary tasks – but ones that cannot be done at the expense of keeping labour committed to fighting climate change, ending educational injustice, and radically expanding migrants’ rights.
The NCG – with a clear majority of Forward Momentum candidates – now must act to defend party democracy, make clear its own commitment to every single socialist policy passed at Labour Conference in recent years, and use Momentum to put their own campaign pledges into action. And with the NCG nearing its first 100 days milestone, Momentum members must call on them to do just this, and for them to empower local groups to take this battle into their local labour and union branches, in a struggle against the Labour right who would rather all Corbyn-era victories were totally quashed. Momentum can and must bring together the grassroots campaigns and activists to build a programme to defend and expand conference policy, ready for a clash at Labour’s 2021 conference, where without an organised presence, the left could be routed.
And in advance of that, the NCG must ensure that Momentum uses every opportunity it can to amplify struggles in line with conference policy, such as those demanding Labour Party support for EU residents’ Right to Stay, and anti-racist, anti-deportation battles such as the urgent one to Free Osime Brown, which sadly the organisation has been silent on. We need the Momentum NCG to come out swinging for grassroots activism, and party democracy.
Josh Lovell (pc) is on the steering committee of the Labour Campaign for Free Movement, is a Momentum activist in Stevenage, and stood in Forward Momentum’s primaries on the Momentum Internationalists programme
Labour Left Internationalists 